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According to CEO Jerry Shen, ASUS is actively considering moving away from Android Wear for its upcoming smartwatches in an effort to have better battery life.

Shen did note, however, that at least one model of their second-generation ZenWatch will run Android Wear but all other future devices are up in the air.

"The major concern is about saving power," Shen said. "We will continue to work with Google on Android Wear, and we will have another (smartwatch) that is not based on Android Wear and features a longer battery life."

By running on a MediaTek chip with a different less battery-intensive operating system, ASUS hopes to achieve battery life of up to 7 days. Most current Android Wear devices have two days or less of battery life.

The second-generation ZenWatch is expected in the Q3.

Earlier this month, Dell took the ultrabook industry by storm with its 2015 XPS 13, starting at $799 with a nearly bezel-less display and an extremely tiny frame.

ASUS has just unveiled their rival, the ZenBook UX305, the "world's slimmest 13.3-inch ultra" at just 0.48-inch thin.

The device has a 13.3-inch 1080p display with anti-glare, a brand new Intel Core M processor, 10 hours of battery life and a "solid aluminum frame enhanced with diamond-cut highlights." The ultrabook has 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, three USB 3.0 ports and an ethernet port.

To go along with its thin frame, the ultra weighs in at 2.6 pounds, in line with the XPS 13 and the MacBook Air.

Most notably, the ultrabook will sell for just $699, undercutting the Dell XPS 13's lowest model by $100 with more RAM and internal storage.

Ahead of the upcoming Mobile World Congress, LG has unveiled their latest smartwatch, the Watch Urbane with a sleek metal face and looks that rival those of non-smart watches.

Similar to its predecessor, the G Watch R, the new Urbane has a a 1.3-inch 320x320 P-OLED display at 245 pixels per inch, a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, 4GB internal storage, 512MB RAM and a 410mAh battery.

Feature wise, there is a heart rate monitor, a barometer and it's IP67 dust/water resistant but don't take the watch when you go swimming.

The body is now either silver or gold finish, and the bands are stitched leather, giving a high-end look.

"LG Watch Urbane is an important part of our strategy to develop wearable devices that are worn and viewed as everyday accessories, not electronic gadgets," Juno Cho, LG CEO and President, said in the press release.

It is unclear when the watch will be released, nor has the company provided a price range but given the specs expect the watch to come in at $299.

The U.S. government has its first conviction of a Megaupload employee, nearly three years after a raid took down the site for good.

Andrus Nomm, a coder for the site living in the Netherlands, plead guilty to criminal copyright infringement, and as part of the plea agreement, Nomm also had to admit that Megaupload stored copyright-infringing content and that he downloaded such files from Mega's servers.

Nomm was one of seven Megaupload employees indicted after the raid, but the first to be convicted. For taking the plea bargain, Nomm will spend one year and one day in prison.

The DOJ says Nomm admitted he was "was aware that copyright-infringing content was stored on the [Megaupload] websites, including copyright protected motion pictures and television programs, some of which contained the 'FBI Anti-Piracy' warning. Nomm also admitted that he personally downloaded copyright-infringing files from the Mega websites. Nomm continued to participate in the Mega Conspiracy."

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom blasted the U.S. legal system, as did his attorney, but says he understood why Nomm took the deal. "The US Justice system: An innocent coder pleads guilty after 3 years of DOJ abuse, with no end in sight, in order to move on with his life," Dotcom said. "I have nothing but compassion and understanding for Andrus Nomm and I hope he will soon be reunited with his son."

In case you missed it earlier this weekend, Steam's 'Valentine's Day Co-Op Sale" is still going strong, with titles discounted as much as 80 percent.

There are 32 games on sale as of writing, with the sale slated to end on Monday at 10AM Pacific Time.

If you've been meaning to get on some games that are funner in co-op mode, now may be your chance.

Check the full sale here: Steam Co-op Sale!

If you have the time for a longer-form video, Kara Swisher had a great interview with President Barack Obama, and the pair discussed the President's thoughts on privacy, cyber warfare and other tech-related topics.

Obama was in Silicon Valley for the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection.

Here is a full transcript of the President's executive order that came out of the Summit, which will specifically "promote private sector cybersecurity information sharing," meaning if a company is hacked there will be better information sharing with the government without the risk of fines or penalties.

Check out the full interview here:

Despite what Taylor Swift would have you believe, there is money to be made on streaming services like Spotify.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' hit song 'Uptown Funk' is a certified hit and one of the most popular tracks in the world. According to MBW, the song is making nearly $100,000 per week on Spotify alone thanks to millions of plays.

Since its release on the streaming service on November 10th, 2014, the track has been played 125.9 million times. Spotify estimates $0.007 is paid to rightsholders per play, meaning the song has brought in nearly $900,000 in revenue.

At around 15 million plays per week, the song is bringing in $100k per week, a number shared by Ronson, the record label, the publisher and any co-writers.

As reported previously on Afterdawn, how much the artists get is a subject of debate. If you do not include taxes or platform costs, the labels take 73 percent, songwriters take 16 percent and artists get 11 percent, but it is hard to imagine an artist struggling while getting $11,000 a week from just one platform.

King Digital, the gaming company behind the hit 'Candy Crush' series, has announced the acquisition of Z2, the maker of 'Metalstorm' and 'Battle Nations.'

The deal is relatively cheap at $45 million upfront with $105 million extra if milestones are met in a certain timeframe.

"Through this acquisition, the company will incorporate a proven team focused on contributing to our diversification into new genres," King wrote in its release. "Z2 will be our first game studio in the United States."

King, which has 1200 employees across 9 gaming studios, will add all 100 Z2 employees. "We look forward to welcoming them to King and joining forces to push this opportunity together," said the studio.

Z2's CEO Lou Fasulo was very excited for the move: "King is predominantly known for their immensely popular puzzle games. Z2 has had great success in casual to mid-core builder, strategy and action games -- this combination extends their capabilities to new game genres."

According to the WSJ, Apple is working on an electric car to compete with Tesla and any upcoming competitors in the space.

The report claims that Apple has hundreds of employees secretly working on the project, which is codenamed "Titan."

At least in prototype, the Apple electric car looks like a minivan, which would make sense if the company is aiming the product at families.

If Apple decides to continue with the project, industry watchers believe it could be half a decade before we see an Apple car on the road. The report says Apple CEO Tim Cook approved the project a year ago, and put product design Vice President Steve Zadesky in charge. Zadesky was a former engineer at Ford.

Reportedly, Zadesky was given permission to create a 1000-person team and take whatever employees necessary from different divisions in the country. Right now, the team is researching "robotics, metals and materials consistent with automobile manufacturing." Besides Zadesky, Apple also recently hired Johann Jungwirth, the former CEO of Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America.

As expected, Google and toymaker Mattel have updated the View-Master for 2015, integrating Android and adding a 360-degree view of animated environments.

The original View-Master was released in 1939, and let kids slide cardboard disks with stereoscopic images into the red plastic device to view via the viewfinder.

For the 2015 model, the View-Master will work with a customized Mattel app, and other apps that are also compatible with Google's 'Cardboard' VR headset. Mattel will sell reels/disks that launch the "user into an augmented reality environment based on the subject of the reel (examples include San Francisco, Dinosaur Adventure, Solar System)."

Mattel is also expected to resell many of the 10,000 disks available for the original system. The new View-Master will go on sale later this year for $29.99. Three-pack reels will cost $14.99.

While Nintendo has notoriously kept their popular first party games off of smartphones and attached to their consoles, it appears that the Mii avatars will be making an appearance on your mobile device.

"In the past, I have opposed making smartphone and tablet versions of Nintendo titles. Prices for content aimed at smartphones and tablets are falling quickly," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. "I am still wary of the category. We intend to develop products that will allow customers to identify with Nintendo products and make people pay attention to Nintendo games.

"For example, some Nintendo game consoles incorporate Mii, which creates a digital avatar to represent players. It would be fun for players to use their Mii characters as icons on social media. We are currently developing an application that will allow users to do that."

There are no other known details about the app except that Iwata says it will be released later this year.

Earlier this week, Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi held a press event in San Francisco where they announced an expansion to the U.S.

Global VP Hugo Barra announced that their Mi.com online marketplace will be available in the U.S. later this year, but without phones or tablets. Instead the site will sell Xiaomi's fitness bands and other accessories like headphones.

When asked about why the popular phones (like the Mi4) will not be headed to the U.S., Barra cited a handful of problems including hardware certification, software testing and logistical issues.

Regardless, the move into the U.S. is a huge step for Xiaomi, which has quickly become the third-largest smartphone maker in the world behind Apple and Samsung thanks to razor thin margins and cheap high-end devices.

Apple users rejoice! The tech giant is finally bringing two-step authentication to some of your services, including iMessages and FaceTime for Mac, iPad and iPhone.

As with other services that use two-step authentication, you will log in with your Apple ID and password and then you will need to provide a second identification code before using video chat or messaging. The second step will be required if you log in to the services from a new device or log out on your main device.

Apple will send the secondary code via text to your registered phone or to the Find My iPhone app.

Apple has announced this week that iOS apps can now be larger than ever.

Previously, apps had a maximum size of 2GB but that limit has now been stretched to 4GB. For the most part, developers that need that kind of size are game makers, and the extra space could allow for longer gameplay.

Says Apple: "The size limit of an app package submitted through iTunes Connect has increased from 2 GB to 4 GB, so you can include more media in your submission and provide a more complete, rich user experience upon installation. Please keep in mind that this change does not affect the cellular network delivery size limit of 100 MB."

The tech giant introduced the 2GB limit when the App Store first launched and the new move is the first ever increase. In 2013, developer Square Enix notably said their Final Fantasy VII game could not be released for iOS due to the limitation.

AfterDawn launched its first mobile app last year and today we'd like to thank users who have installed it, regularly use it and have provided excellent feedback.

While based in Northern Finland, AfterDawn has staff in a handful of countries and on multiple continents. We all speak English but most of the staff speaks multiple languages, and of course our services are provided in different languages too. One thing we all have in common though is a bit of an addiction to news content, primarily technology-related news, and every day links bounce back and forth across staff, many of which have been collected and added to "read later" lists that always grow longer and never shorten.

It seems natural then that the first time we decided to throw an app into the wild, it was a news app. HIGH.FI automatically pulls news headlines from hundreds of sources on all topics and allows you to very easily customize the type of news you want to see.

Thank you for 10,000 installs on Android!